Gophers football is a hotter ticket - season ticket sales are up

[17thAveHallofFame]

I think there is a breaking point to this, Juniors and Seniors saw some pretty tough Gopher Football seasons, last years Freshman saw a winning season and an upset against Nebraska and taking the Bell from Penn State. Get a team that has a favorable shot against Wisconsin and Iowa and you'll put butts in seats and it's a tipping point. We're seeing stabilzation in the numbers which refelects a stabilization in the program, but 18-22s are always late to the party. Beat Michigan and the place will be packed.

You hit the nail on the head. As a freshman ticket holder last year I can tell you I had 100 times more fun at the football games last year than hockey and basketball. I'm going to remember getting pushed down the wall by Andre Hollins while storming the field after Nebraska for the rest of my life. Honestly the freshman probably outnumbered the upper-classmen at a couple of those games as well. If the Gophers can continue to have a couple of exciting seasons like last year they will have no problems with student ticket sales.

The $90 price tag for student tickets is well within reach for most students...I'd say 75% of my floor had season tickets and the others bought tickets to 2-3 of the games at least. Most students realize how cheap our season tickets are compared to other schools and are actually sort of grateful for them being so low. I'm honestly not sure you'd see that big of an increase in student attendance by having tickets come with tuition anyways. There would be some increase definitely but really it's just about the culture around campus. Again putting together a couple of exciting seasons and the students will be packing that place in no time.

 

[Okie]

You hit the nail on the head. As a freshman ticket holder last year I can tell you I had 100 times more fun at the football games last year than hockey and basketball. I'm going to remember getting pushed down the wall by Andre Hollins while storming the field after Nebraska for the rest of my life. Honestly the freshman probably outnumbered the upper-classmen at a couple of those games as well. If the Gophers can continue to have a couple of exciting seasons like last year they will have no problems with student ticket sales.

The $90 price tag for student tickets is well within reach for most students...I'd say 75% of my floor had season tickets and the others bought tickets to 2-3 of the games at least. Most students realize how cheap our season tickets are compared to other schools and are actually sort of grateful for them being so low. I'm honestly not sure you'd see that big of an increase in student attendance by having tickets come with tuition anyways. There would be some increase definitely but really it's just about the culture around campus. Again putting together a couple of exciting seasons and the students will be packing that place in no time.

To go off of this, I'm entering my senior year and very few of my friends still have tickets. It's to the point where it's very difficult even finding someone to go to the game with. Back in freshman year, of course everyone was all hyped as new students and the welcome week pep fest thing, and I remember a lot more people had tickets that year. However, by the end of September, we had witnessed a loss (and traumatic seizure) vs New Mexico State, a close win vs Miami Ohio, and a beatdown from NDSU. After that, most of the people that I know never used their tickets again that season and haven't bought in again.

It's an annoying issue because I would love to see more people at the games, and we had a good season last year, yet this negative cloud still hangs over the program when it comes to student perception. For instance, I'm living with a house this year with about a dozen huge sports fans, and everyone can't wait for college football to start....so they can watch their adopted teams in the SEC. Only three of us have tickets to Gopher games. Give it a few years and hopefully we will see improvement with the numbers.

 

[Ole]

I really don't think cost of the tickets is a major deterring factor. Other B1G schools can fill up their student sections because the game is the place to be. It is what everyone is doing. Is there a bit of an attendance problem across the country? Yes. Have we moved to an era where everything needs to grab your attention? Absolutely.

If you let students in for free, you will have a hard time ever charging them for admission after cutting the price. The draw would fade.

Some students at the U might want to save some money and stay home to watch the game. But I honestly think the bigger problem is that the culture of the students doesn't revolve around college athletics like it used to. The AD has made attempts, but it tends to be really stale (see inflatables and face painting). Tour guides don't seem to talk up about the team. Students have proven they will show up for the big games. The U just needs to make football THE place to be on Saturday (and sometimes Thursday), and they will show up to all of the games.

You get it. Many will disagree, the U admin certainly disagrees.

There simply has not been an all hands on deck approach to gamedays.

Until somebody cleans out the awful attitudes towards football and athletics that permeate the U and value the students for the youthful exuberance they can bring to any event, nothing will change.
The more structure you put in place, the more kids will run away. Let them dictate the gameday traditions for themselves and their friends and more will show up.
The student lot is great, the rules that are put in place make it irrelevant for most students.
The kids don't care if the football team wins, they care about gathering in a common place that allow them to party with friends and interact with the opposite sex.
They just want a place to blow off steam on the weekends, if the football game is the place to be, they'll show up. If not they won't.

 

[RodentRampage]

How is the U doing in involving student organizations? What if student organizations could register their members student tickets with the athletic department? Then when they scan the tickets, they could count up which organization had the most people show up. They could announce the "Student Organization of the Game" and buy pizza for that group. They could have a pizza place sponsor it.

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[Gopherdrummer]

Where does their own tailgate lot with booze permitted fit on the staleness scale?

I was referring to the AD prior to Teague. There is still a ways to go, and the tailgate lot is a step in the right direction. Overall, however, there isn't a general sustained excitement for football across the U's student body as compared to other B1G schools.

 

[17thAveHallofFame]

How is the U doing in involving student organizations? What if student organizations could register their members student tickets with the athletic department? Then when they scan the tickets, they could count up which organization had the most people show up. They could announce the "Student Organization of the Game" and buy pizza for that group. They could have a pizza place sponsor it.

That's not a bad idea at all..although many of the people heavily involved in the student organizations are the kids who are least interested in sports and won't care either way. If the Greek system went in on this it could be beneficial. The frats are already huge attenders at the games but get the sororities in on it and get prizes for the houses that attend the most and you would be bringing in hundreds more per game.

 

[17thAveHallofFame]

Students really aren't tailgating that much. They are trying to build excitement with the 1st annual Jerrysota bean-bag tourney tomorrow that has some of the Gopher basketball guys squaring off against any students who signed up. I really think that tailgating will become increasingly popular with students as long as success continues. I went to every game last year and honestly the only thing close to tailgating that I remember last year other than the Wisconsin game is the occasional kegger in someone's yard in Dinkytown before the game.

 

[Okie]

I'm not sure how popular the student lot will ever get, simply because, why would you want to tailgate with a car in a parking lot if you have a house a mile away from the stadium? Tailgating in a yard somewhere is often more fun, you don't have to spend more money on a parking spot, and you don't have to worry about someone staying sober enough to drive the car home. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I've always considered tailgating to be more of an activity for once you're living off-campus and own season tickets. I have a small group of friends that are already talking about getting a tailgating spot next year after we graduate, but we really have no desire to tailgate this year.

 

[Ski U Master]

The U just needs to make football THE place to be on Saturday (and sometimes Thursday), and they will show up to all of the games.

It needs a winning product and then they will show up. No amount of gimmicks and festivities outside the game will get it full when the team is bad.

 

[Gopherdrummer]

It needs a winning product and then they will show up. No amount of gimmicks and festivities outside the game will get it full when the team is bad.

That would certainly help, but many winning teams across the country have been having attendance issues from their students. It has been talked about at length here, but the U and other schools are trying to figure out how to capture the attention of just about everybody. It doesn't mean college football is losing popularity, it just means fans aren't interested in being in the stadiums.

Even the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about the Cubs losing attendance ever since they changed ownership. The previous owners fielded terrible teams, but their attendance numbers were up compared to the rest of MLB.

If you don't engage fans or students, then their couch starts looking more appealing. The game feels too commercialized for its own good. Maybe some people are priced out of buying a ticket. Beside the point - I will be in my seats tomorrow, probably getting soaked (please don't rain), and cheering my head off. We just need to convince others to join the party.

 

[Gopher07]

It needs a winning product and then they will show up. No amount of gimmicks and festivities outside the game will get it full when the team is bad.

Agreed here. This may come off as a "no duh" look, but if you look at the past 15 seasons (1998-2013), or basically as much as any current student really remembers, it plays out that consistently good teams get consistently good support.

I first removed each team's best and worst seasons before calculating the record. It looks like the B1G breaks down into a few tiers.

Interestingly, it seems to align with the ranking of stadiums by capacity for 2013; the biggest outliers are Purdue, who was horrendous in 2013, and Indiana, who had more promise last year than they've had in a while.

All other team's capacity rank is within 3 places of their winning percentage rank. If I had more time I'd look at the capacity ranks for the same period of time (not just 2013), and I bet the rankings would be even more similar.

Power teams:
1. Ohio State: 141-35 (.801) [2013 attendance rank, by capacity: 3]
2. Wisconsin: 129-53 (.709) [4]
3. Nebraska: 126-57 (.689) [1]
4. Michigan: 120-56 (.682) [2]
5. Penn State: 113-61 (.649) [8]

Almost there:
6. Michigan State: 101-73 (.580) [5]
7. Iowa: 99-75 (.569) [6]

Not quite there:
8. Purdue: 91-83 (.523) [13]
9. Maryland: 88-81 (.521) [12]

Losing more than they're winning:
10. Minnesota: 84-88 (.488) [7]
11. Northwestern: 82-89 (.480) [11]
12. Rutgers: 80-89 (.473) [9]

Godawful:
13. Illinois: 65-102 (.389) [14]
14. Indiana: 54-108 (.333) [10]

 

[Gopher07]

WSJ ran this article yesterday (timely, eh?): http://online.wsj.com/articles/at-c...ections-likely-to-have-empty-seats-1409188244

They requested turnstile info from public schools to determine student attendance; here are the 2013 average attendance stats from B1G schools that reported:

Ohio State: 17,481 (+1% from 2012)
Michigan: 14,749 (-10%)
Wisconsin: 11,402 (-4%)
Michigan State: 9,493 (0%)
Indiana: 5,276 (+9%)
Minnesota: 4,568 (+20%)
Purdue: 4,500 (+20%)
Illinois: 1,993 (-43%)

Looks like we'll have another uptick this year, maybe even break the 5k mark in average student attendance.